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Strange computer CMOS battery...

IBMMuseum

IBMMuseum

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 28, 2006
Messages
1,488
I've got my PCMIG system mostly going, but just when expecting to replace a CR-2032 (it does have an 850MHz PIII, but running NTWS), I find a "TL-5186":

70102870_large.jpg


The description says two pins are used, but it is four pins on the opposite side of the SBC circuit board. A good suspicion would be for a replacement external battery (I'll meter it to make sure), but I'm really shy about just tugging away right now (otherwise I just have to go through a little CMOS setup).

Does anyone have more experience with these batteries?

The system is a nice little unit. I only got to look through the vents at the PCMIG SBC before the purchase, and thought it was a Socket 7 (like my 7587/7588 IBM Industrials that are PCMIG). Not too troubling, I also have a spare Slot 1 PCMIG board that is able to do 133MHz FSB.

But this SBC will probably stay in place: It's got SCSI and dual 100BT Ethernet. With NT I won't be able to use the rear USB ports, but maybe I'll make it dual-boot to W2K Pro. The backplane has two PCI, and ten ISA slots, all unpopulated, even all the slot covers are factory-placed (I removed one that doesn't block a slot, to add the missing additional cables for an LPT and second COM port).

The Award BIOS can be set (which has an automatic baud rate as default) to throw POST codes out of the serial port, so still like its industrial appearance. It's more like a cube however, and not wide enough (14") to be rack-mounted. The vents I used to look inside would also let too much dust in for a factory use.

For interior home use, it's too noisy, at the same pitch as my RAQ550 (put together, they might resonate to break lightbulbs)...

I did find this, showing the two pins: http://www.batterycentralmall.com/Batteries/Tadiran/pdf/TL-5186.pdf

I just didn't know if the plastic base was a separate holder like a coin cell would have...
 
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Chuck(G) said:
Take a look at this. Unless you can look at the other side of the PCB, you have no indication if it's soldered in or socketed--apparently you can do either.
Click to expand...

It's partially over the side of a bridge chip, and I would think soldering would not make sense (but a pin socket would also be a tight fit). The four pads of solder on the opposite side look to be for an external battery. For such an oddity, I want to replace it with another style - a coin-cell holder might not be too easy with the chip there, an external pack means I'll probably have to put the header.
 
I suspect that the attachment method depends on when the board was made. After about 2000, there was legislation in place in many countries that batteries had to be removable by the user prior to disposal--too many unfortunate accidents. That being said, I've got a Z180 SBC from Wintek, where the lithium cell is soldered on--I'd put the board in the late 80's or so.

I think the safest approach is to clip the battery out and then look at the attachment method.
 
"NT doesn't support USB well" is how I'd characterize it. Before 2K brought in configuration and power management as part of every kernel mode driver, dynamically changing configuration was a nightmare and usually full of bugs.

I think the IRP_MJ_PNP and IRP_MJ_POWER functions were late additions to the Windows 2K release. I recall that MS claimed right through several beta releases that you would be able to use NT 4 device drivers on NT 5 systems without modification. Then, somewhere along the betas and RCs, the power and PNP requests were made mandatory. And they did so without an apology to the development community.
 
Chuck(G) said:
"NT doesn't support USB well" is how I'd characterize it. Before 2K brought in configuration and power management as part of every kernel mode driver, dynamically changing configuration was a nightmare and usually full of bugs.

I think the IRP_MJ_PNP and IRP_MJ_POWER functions were late additions to the Windows 2K release. I recall that MS claimed right through several beta releases that you would be able to use NT 4 device drivers on NT 5 systems without modification. Then, somewhere along the betas and RCs, the power and PNP requests were made mandatory. And they did so without an apology to the development community.
Click to expand...

A spot-on description with how I define it. Be it understood that have a 32Mb thumbdrive (remember those days?) sourced by IBM I have used on NT 4 (with the drivers from a floppy, also dating the timeframe). I'm actually fine with the limitations, and have been more frustrated with USB devices that lose functionality in later OS releases.
 
It's interesting that usb ports are usable in NT dispite what the official line is. I've accessed 512meg to 2 gig thumb drives formatted as NTFS with no issues using drivers freely available for download.
 
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Oh no........one of those.
The Indigo systems used the exact same battery. Once it went dead it made the system unbootable.
 
NeXT said:
Oh no........one of those.
The Indigo systems used the exact same battery. Once it went dead it made the system unbootable.
Click to expand...

Yes, count my blessings that I can boot (and everything works on default settings), otherwise I wouldn't know where to start...

I probably need to put in some relevant terms to search for a manual...

In reality it probably isn't that old...
 
Chuck(G) said:
"NT doesn't support USB well" is how I'd characterize it. Before 2K brought in configuration and power management as part of every kernel mode driver, dynamically changing configuration was a nightmare and usually full of bugs.
Click to expand...

It didn't stop companies from trying. Both SystemSoft and Pheonix Technologies released full APM and hot-swap PC Card driver stacks for NT 4.0. They are tough to find, but most OEMs had them available for download on the support pages for laptops they shipped from 1997-2000 or so.
 
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